It always amazes me how people want to invent their own religions. This trend seems worse than ever these days. People just want to pick and choose what they like and what makes sense to them…as if they are God! I just ordered a book on Amazon about the younger generation’s views on religion….should be interesting. Of course, Jackie wasn’t a young person

I’m also trying to learn more about evolution theories. The whole concept seems pretty silly to me, admittedly, but I don’t want to be ignorant if science really does make a compelling case. But I’m skeptical, as you could probably tell by my remarks about the bear cubs. Either way, it doesn’t affect my faith or the reliabity of the Bible. I think a lot of people fail to understand the imagery and poetry of the Bible.

Finally, if anyone wants to comment on Buddhism, please feel free. I studied the religion a little bit in seminary and have done some additional reading. But as I said, I am not an expert. If my comments in the video are off base, let me know!

For the first time in many years, I was REALLY ready for spring. These past two weekends in Northern Virginia has been absolutely gorgeous—and a big reason to thank God.

Where is God in the weather? That’s what this video deals with. But the deeper issue is why God allows any bad things to happen in this world. Personally, it just makes sense to me that God has allowed such things to happen (as explained in the video). This doesn’t mean God causes these things, but He has obviously allowed a world to exist where such things happen. The only other alternative is that God is not omnipotent…and such a view would not be Biblical.

So, God allows life to be hard. But to show that He cares, Jesus was subject to life’s most painful and tragic offerings. God cares and understands, but this is how THIS world is. In the next world, it will be much different…and forever.

This is the final video in our three-part series. Of course, volumes of material has been written on this topic….so three short videos doesn’t really do the subject justice. When in grad school, I was seriously considering writing my thesis on this topic. But professor after professor told me that this was a HUGE topic and that I really needed to narrow down the paper to a minute matter…which I wasn’t interested in doing. If someone could give a nice summary of this topic, that would be great, I thought….but that’s not the purpose of a thesis.

Anyway, I digress. Despite its brevity, I hope this video is of some help to you. The apostle Paul is a central figure in this discussion, as his views really shaped the emering Christian church at the time. It wasn’t easy, though. Many people were disgusted by his views about how the law should be used…including new Jewish Christians who believed in Jesus. But Paul’s views won the day…and the world was changed forever.

As we continue in our series, this video addresses a very important topic. The notion of making exceptions to the laws can be quite controversial (especially when applied to contemporary issues) and can lead to heated debates. Plus, if anyone thinks that the Bible is black-and-white on all issues, they probably haven’t spend much time studying the Scriptures in detail. But remember—-Love for God and Love for Neighbor are the overarching goals in how to live our lives.

That said, I imagine just about everyone agrees that we shouldn’t be hypocrites. We shouldn’t put on a show or go through the motions while our hearts our elsewhere. Jesus talked about this as well…you can check out some of his comments near the end of Luke 11.

Do you have the right attitude about God’s laws? This doesn’t mean that you perfectly follow them (nobody does); but do you have the right attitude? Do you think they are important? Do you think they are valuable? Do you seek to learn and better understand them?

I think this is one of the reasons why David was called a man “after God’s own heart.” We all know he wasn’t perfect. But he truly loved and depended on God and seemed sincere in trying to follow His ways.

Well, like I said in the video, if you don’t feel passionate about God’s laws and ways, don’t give up! Maybe through the course of this video series, you’ll grow to better appreciate the instructions for life contained in the Bible.

Who Dat!

As of this moment, the Saints are still in the hunt for their first Super Bowl appearance and victory in franchise history. Hopefully, we can handle the Vikings this weekend. You have to admit……this is the most likeable team in football. First, there is the whole Katrina subplot. And then Drew Brees really is a likeable guy. And there are so many humble, nonshowboats, like Marcus Colston and Pierre Thomas. OK, I digress…..lol

Is “Breesus” a harmless name, a funny comparison? I’m sure some of you will say it is. And if you’re a committed Christian who loves God, then I have no intentions of trying to convince you otherwise. But I do think there are a lot of Christians these days that aren’t particularly serious about their faith. They use the Lord’s name in vain all the time. And although they may recite “hallowed be thy name” in church on a regular basis, they don’t really practice that in the real world. And it’s probably a sign of a deeper problem. Not taking God Almighty seriously.

Listen, I’m not trying to prohibit a bunch of atheists or Christian-haters from saying Breesus. They can say whatever they want—it’s called freedom of speech. But I’m also going to exercise my right of free speech. And that’s why I raise the topic.

What do you think?

By the way, it’s un-American to root against the Saints. 

Well, I probably ruffled a few feathers with this video. I’m referring to the comments about big government and the march in Washington, D.C. Regarding the latter, I want to make sure my position is clear. I wasn’t commenting on the claim for equal rights. I’m not up-to-date on what the debate is even about, so I can’t opine on it. I was really just addressing Fujita’s remarks about Jesus and the Bible.  With regards to this specific issue, one can certainly make the case that the Bible is clear about the sinfulness of homosexuality. Like I said, I’m happy to dialogue if someone wants to challenge me on this. But assuming that homosexuality is wrong, I want to be clear about a few things. I think heterosexuals are often guilty of sexual sins…so we’re all in this together. We’re all sinners.  Without question, men and women and kids have desires that aren’t healthy or wholesome. Many of us would love to act on these desires. But they are wrong, and so we can’t. So even if one argues that a gay person is indeed born that way (and that it’s not really an intentional choice), it doesn’t change anything. We’re all born with sexual desires that we can’t pursue. That’s just part of being human.

Now that said, do gay people have a tougher road to travel? I think so. But you just can’t say it’s “not a sin” because you have certain desires. Most people are born with desires, and as is clearly evident, they don’t necessarily go away just because you’re married.

Well, enough on this. Can you believe this sexting stuff? It’s sure a different world than I grew up in.

Martin Luther was a fascinating person. I have a few Catholic friends who don’t think too highly of him, but I suspect it’s because they don’t understand what really happened back in the 1500′s. He was a devoted member of the church, but the church leaders had become terribly corrupt and would not change.  So reluctantly, he started what would become the Reformation. And quite frankly, I think the Christian Church is stronger for it today. Too much power in too few hands (regardless of the type of organization) is always a recipe for disaster with human beings.

Anyway, I don’t have much to add to the video, except to say that I think there will always be people who believe we’re saved by being a good person. If we do certain good works and act in a certain way, then we’ll go to heaven. Billy Graham once commented that no matter how many times he preached about faith, people would still resort to this view that being a good person is the key to getting into heaven. I guess it’s just human nature to think this way. We simply don’t understand or appreciate God’s amazing grace.

Had you ever wondered about the verses we discussed? The whole idea of knocking versus opening. I don’t know, I just found it kind of interesting….thinking about the contrast.

The thing that I really noticed in the Luke 11 passage was the comment about the Holy Spirit in verse 13. A lot of people refer to this story in Luke and think it means you can ask for whatever you want. But it seems that verse 13 makes it pretty clear that we’re talking about asking for the Holy Spirit in our lives….not a request to be rich or whatever.

As discussed, Jesus is also knocking. He wants in our lives and hearts. This week, think about an aspect of your life where you have been reluctant to let Christ in.

I want to be clear. I’m not an expert on Islamic studies. I just wanted to share the results of my research during one class I took. So, if anyone wants to correct or dispute anything that I said, please feel free to comment here. My goal—and your goal too, I’m sure—-is to learn the truth.

Hey, did you like my black eye? Actually, it looked a lot better by the time I finally shot this video. Perhaps you didn’t even notice it. But the way I got it was pretty embarrassing. I ran into a pole in my basement. Yep.

See you next time…..